Ain’t a Cheerleader in Texas...
Day 4
The next morning they were both awake at seven, leaping out of bed with simultaneous giggles. Sandy covered her mouth with an appalled look on her face afterwards, but Jessie skipped into the bathroom without a care in the world. They tried on what had to be every outfit they’d brought with them (and a couple that Sandy didn’t remember packing) before Jessie settled on a maroon tube top and tight blue jeans. Sandy went back and forth between a black skirtsuit and an outfit similar to Jessie’s before settling on the suit- though in deference to Jessie’s pout, she didn’t wear anything but her bra under the jacket.
When they came downstairs, Dani curled her lip and Dee Dee made a face. “Like, come on, nerd girl, we can’t possibly be seen with you like this,” Kellie said.
Sandy looked down her nose at Kellie and replied, “I don’t know what kind of street clothes you brought with you, but I intend to prove that I’m not your everyday dumb cheerleader during interviews.”
The othe four girls exchanged a puzzled look, then Kellie said, “Manning. Naw, Sanchez.”
“Young has his points,” Dee Dee said with a smile.
“You would say that. I’ll take Favre. There’s something to be said for older men, and have you seen that jeans commercial?” Dani countered.
“I’ll take Eli if you don’t want him, Kellie! He’s got that cute smile, and those abs,” Jessie said with a giggle and dreamy sigh.
Sandy blinked. “I think I missed a transition here.”
“Which quarterback would be the best between our legs. You know, the important stuff,” Jessie explained with a laugh.
“Oh. Well, we’re in Texas, ad not that far from Dallas. Aren’t you guys missing one?” Sandy replied, trying to sound like the conversation was as stimulating to her as it obviously was to the others.
“Umm, hello? Like, do you remember the last woman he dated?” Kellie replied.
“Yeah, you don’t know where that’s been,” Dee Dee agreed.
“Oooh, but I bet I could show him the advent- atvand- why Jessies are better than Jessicas. And we know I’m a better dancer!” Jessie squealed in excitement.
“Well, that’s true enough,” Sandy said with a giggle, but she kept her distance from the rest of the group as they approached the cafeteria. Like the rest of them, she grabbed something light and quick before checking in and heading to the booths. None of them thought to ask why they still needed ID pictures this far into their stay; they were too busy taking off the outfits they had so carefully chosen and being conditioned into their uniform for the day- the same as the prior day’s, except without underwear provided. Not that any of them were in any condition to care about something like that.
The director watched from the projector room as the girls filed obediently into the auditorium and took their seats. When the last one had arrived, he flicked on the highlight reel of various D-I athletes and teams that would prime them for the second half of the camp. He checked the list, noting that even those who had resisted the most fiercely the previous day were now properly in line with all the others, all of them too blindly loyal to think of anything they weren’t told to think about. This was his second-favorite day of the camp, because getting the girls to this stage meant that there was no more need for the outside contractors. They could go back to basics-the booth designed by Tech, the food so carefully engineered by A&M, the cheerleaders from Austin with their irresistible charms- and after all, wasn’t this all about the cheerleaders of Texas?
Those girls marked in red, though they had fallen under the the same way their friends and roommates had, were still not worthy of the higher schools, so representatives from the high D-II schools joined him in the projector room to count down from fifty to one. The mindless peep shows they had given in the photo booth over the last few days would determine their fates, as the schools chose strictly by their standards of beauty. By three, the D-II girls were all allocated and the lights came back on.
“All right, gals, y’all enjoy the film I had to tide you over with?” He smiled as the girls agreed in unison. The pent-up energies of the competitive week removed any remaining sense in them and wiped out the memories of what they had been told the day would be.
Jessie saw Sandy come out with a squad in light blue and gold; while all the other schools had seven, Sandy led a group of eight. She was the prettiest of the group- no weird squirming, no ecessive makeup, no ridiculously tight pantyhose, just beauty in the light blue and gold. She looked like a real Texas cheerleader, not a horny rag doll like the last girl Jessie had seen in blue and gold. “Have fun!” Jessie squealed at her old roommate.
“Yeah, fun. It’ll be fun,” Sandy replied in an entranced drawl, pulling out another of the mints in the blue and gold wrapper she had already become addicted to. They hugged each other and Jessie let her go off with her squad. Like, who needs Harvard when you can be a Texas cheerleader? Jessie thought. As the D-II cheerleaders left the gym, she almost creamed herself when she realized what that meant.
“That’s right, gals, you MADE IT!” Holly told them triumphantly, and the girls screamed and bounced up and down, their D-I dreams fulfilled and the fantasy of the Big Three still alive. Only one last trip to the photo booth prevented a stampede as the mindless cheerleaders got into full Texas Elite uniforms. Each checked out the one closest to them as they got all dolled up in the locker room, imagining what they looked like in the same red, white, and blue cheer outfits. They fit tightly to the girls, but they no longer cared how much of themselves they were showing off- and if they did, it was only to giggle and flaunt it all the more proudly. They would be Division I Texas cheerleaders, after all, and the next five days would show just how high they could go.
The observers smiled as the girls were already bouncing and skipping like a stereotype without being told to. Jessie and her friends hardly noticed the changes in themselves. They were too busy chatting about how they had reached the second half of the camp, now and then seamlessly slipping into a Texan drawl as they munched on the buffet in the cafeteria. Holly came over to them and said, “Kellie, your roommate went to Word on the first day, didn’t she?”
“She sure did. Too bad, ‘cause Marie wasn’t a bad girl, just so-she asked so many questions, like a little sister or something,” Kellie replied. (Of course, before trying to ignore her best friend in the dollar store-cheap NAIA uniform, dripping wet and drooling, Kelly-never-Kellie-what-do-you-think-I’m-some-cutesy-girly-girl was the one asking incessant questions, but Kelly was buried now under hours and days of conditioning.)
“Well, I can’t help but notice that your friend Jessie’s roommate just went out that door. I don’t suppose you two would want to stay together?” Holly asked with a smile.
“Oh my God, yes!“ Jessie and Kellie screamed in unison. Even Dani covered her ears at pitch of their screaming.
“All right, here’s Sandy’s room key. Y’all better behave,” Holly said, presenting Kellie with the key. Kellie took it and threw her arms around Jessie in a hug, both girls glowing with joy. They nibbled on the buffet a little more, and by the time seven o’clock rolled around, they were more than ready to get back to the dorms.
As they entered the room, both Jessie and Kellie realized how hot the whole day had made them. They needed something, anything to take that edge off, and after all, what were friends for? Within seconds, clothes were being shed as their lips locked out of pure need. The hidden camera behind the television saw everything, and the time was duly recorded. After more than an hour (1:12:24, according to the tape), the two girls separated, mechanically took their own beds and killed the lights.